Gift of Gab's 'The Gentrification Song' Grieves for Lost Communities

An MC worries that hipsters are displacing the poor, and cities are changing for the worse.

1 minute read

July 1, 2017, 1:00 PM PDT

Gift of Gab in 2006. | Barry Mulling / Flickr

Gift of Gab, member of Blackalicious, is a long-time Bay Area resident, and his new song "Gentrification Song" talks about something the region has seen a lot of.

Gift mourns for the people the area lost in his lyrics, "And where do all the people go who can't afford the change?/They board the train ignore the pain of leaving all they've/Known all their life, the only place they've lived for all their days/Where they learned all their ways and spent a thousand holidays/I guess that life is really all about the dollar chase/Some move to live with family members or across the state/Some disappear and stay anonymous, it's all a maze/These people were pillars that made the hood a stronger place."

FULL STORY: 'The Gentrification Song' Is The Inner-City Blues America Deserves From Rap

Thursday, June 29, 2017 in NPR

Social / Demographics United States Blackalicious Gift of Gab Hip-Hop Gentrification Affordable Housing Bay Area View More

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